Bibliotecha is a toolkit to maintain local off-line digital libraries. With it, communities can create and share collections of digital publications in their local area. Technically Bibliotecha relies on a small single board computer (such as a RaspberryPi) running free and open source software to serve digital publications on an open Wi-fi hotspot. Using a laptop, phone or tablet visitors can connect to it and books can be retrieved or donated via the browser. Since it is a low-power device you can power it with a USB powerbank and take it with you everywhere.
During the workshop we will guide participants through the installation process of a Bilbiotecha node. Participants will get introduced to the open source software stack, working with a RaspberryPi and Calibre the library management tool. This will be followed by a book sharing session and conversation where we exchange knowledge on taking care of a off-line digital community library.
*At the end of the workshop participants will have a basic working understanding of the command line interface, working with Linux and the RaspberryPi.
*In addition participants will get an understanding of the ins and outs of managing collections of digital books.
*Last but not least, participants will take home a working Bibliotecha node, ready to distribute books!
The curriculum is an ongoing series of workshops in which participants are introduced to technical, theoretical and methodological skills at the basis of the various practices that live within Varia. These are short intensive master-classes or workshops aimed towards providing high level introductions as a basis for further explorations.
